Background
The parties in this case were HA O’Neil Limited (“the Respondent”) a mechanical engineering firm and Unite the Union and others (“the Appellants”). Unite is a trade union who organises workers in the mechanical engineering industry, and the others party to the case were employees of the Respondent and members of the union. In February 2023, the union, having balloted its members employed by the respondent company, wrote to the Respondent giving notice of industrial action due to take place 10 days later. The proposed industrial action involved strikes on a rolling basis at construction sites where the Respondent was engaged as a sub-contractor.
The Respondent brought a High Court application for an interlocutory injunction restraining the Appellants from picketing at these construction sites and sought other ancillary orders. The injunction was granted in March 2023 pending the trial action. The Supreme Court (“the Court”) permitted leave to appeal on the basis that the case raised important issues of law relating to the grant of injunctions in respect of industrial disputes, and in particular, reference to section 19(2) of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 (“the Act”).